Good afternoon. Feeling late to the crypto chat? So are major fashion houses.

LVMH, Prada, and Richemont yesterday revealed they’re creating a “blockchain consortium” for authentication efforts. To which our tech editor, Dan McCarthy, said, “That term’s been overused since 2017.” 

In today’s edition: 

• Expansions at Andie, Harper Wilde, and Parade
• ShipHero quadruples revenue
• Amazon tests new waters

— Halie LeSavage, Katishi Maake

DTC

Closer for Comfort

Joining a seemingly bottomless surge in comfy apparel, DTC brands are expanding their intimates categories with 1) wireless, size-inclusive products and 2) wholesale distribution. 

Entering drawers: Andie, founded as a swimwear-only brand in 2016, debuted bras and underwear online yesterday in sizes XS-3XL. CEO Melanie Travis told Retail Brew the bras were adapted from its best-selling swim styles.

Parade, which opened with underwear in 2019, released its takes on wireless bralettes today in sizes XS-3XL with varied support options. The brand redeveloped its website to accommodate new products and accompanying digital sizing tools, CEO Cami Téllez told us. 

Both brands told us they began developing the expansions pre-Covid due to shopper interest. And both funded the investments with impressive 2020s: 107% top-line growth YoY at Andie, though they wouldn’t disclose revenue; $10 million in revenue and one million pairs of underwear sold during Parade’s first year. 

• Parade is “on a path to profitability” and is “slated to grow over 300%” this year, Téllez said.

Entering stores: Harper Wilde, which has sold comfort-driven bra styles since 2016, kicked off its first wholesale partnership with Nordstrom last week. 

• Nordstrom will carry Harper Wilde in its five largest IRL doors, as well as online.
• Co-CEO Jenna Kerner told Retail Brew that Harper Wilde experienced triple digit growth from Q1 2020 to Q1 2021, but declined to provide revenue figures. 

Support for all shapes

Like apparel in general, this year’s fastest-growing bra segments are the least restrictive. While the NPD Group reported overall bra sales only increased 1% YoY in the second half of 2020, wireless styles grew 14% and pullover styles grew 31% in the same period. 

Underpinning the shift: Comfortable bra styles perked up with Aerie’s unfiltered marketing and the advent of digital native, size-inclusive lines like ThirdLove in 2013. Those styles only rose in popularity during quarantine—mirroring sweats, which grew 17% while total apparel sales fell. 

• Harper Wilde has “barely” kept its best-selling bralette in stock since March 2020, Kerner said. A new design sold out in less than two weeks.

“In general, e-commerce penetration probably leapfrogged two or three years [last year],” Travis told us. In intimates, “I think it was the same for the quote-unquote comfort movement.” 

Unlike 24/7 sweatsuits...“We don’t worry about this being a trend that will pass,” Kerner told Retail Brew. “Undergarments are basics, not fashion. Once [the customer] finds what she loves, she’s not going to move back to a less comfortable option.”

And once that customer is intimate with a brand, those brands can upsell more products. Travis and Téllez both said they’re releasing additional skus in the year ahead. — HL

E-COMM

I Need a Hero

US e-commerce grew 32% in 2020, fueling demand for digital shopping know-how and logistics expertise. ShipHero is one of a number of companies trying to meet that demand by outsourcing e-comm fulfillment and warehouse management for brands. 

ShipHero’s cofounder and CEO Aaron Rubin told Retail Brew that revenue more than quadrupled YoY to $22 million in 2020, up from $5 million in 2019. The company also shipped $5 billion in orders last year, up from $1.7 billion the year before. Rubin said most of this came from growth among existing customers, not new ones. 

• “We're shipping more in a month now than we used to ship in six months,” cofounder and Nicholas Daniel-Richards told us. 

The company offers two primary services to brands: 1) cloud-based software that helps brands run warehouse operations and 2) a fulfillment service that ships e-commerce orders around the country from its warehouses. 

• ShipHero works with both small DTC startups and large corporations like Canadian Tire.

Looking ahead: ShipHero hopes to ride the e-comm wave to close its first-ever funding round, with a $50 million goal, Rubin told Retail Brew. They plan to use the funding to increase staff, acquire more warehouse space, and expand into last mile delivery. 

Check out our full conversation with ShipHero’s cofounders, in which we talk retailer use cases, challenges, and why the company turned down a Shopify acquisition in 2018. — KM 

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BEAUTY

New Service, Who Dis?

Amazon is now taking its talents to the world of...hair salons. The move is Amazon’s first real foray into personal care services, where it historically hasn’t shown much interest, Neil Saunders, managing director at GlobalData Retail, told Retail Brew.   

Amazon Salon will set up shop in London a few minutes away from Amazon’s UK headquarters. The 1,500 sq. ft. space will initially be accessible to employees, and later to the public via appointment. 

• Amazon will use its Salon to test a lot of tech, including augmented reality that lets customers view themselves with different hair colors.  

Another service: Last week Bloomberg reported that Amazon is also planning to encroach on Wayfair’s turf with a beefed up furniture assembly service. 

• Fewer details are available, but a source told Bloomberg it will be introduced in Virginia. 
• The service is intended to be a cheaper and more convenient version of Amazon Home Services, which lets customers hire contractors to assemble furniture. 

Big picture: It’s hard to pin down Amazon’s exact intentions when introducing new services, Saunders said—the salon could simply be a vehicle to test out new tech. 

“Everyone should be aware of what Amazon is doing, but opening one salon really does not make an enormous difference. The furniture market I do think is more of a threat,” Saunders told us. — KM

WHAT ELSE IS BREWING

• Warby Parker is reportedly planning an IPO.
• Affirm will acquire the returns platform Returnly for $300 million. 
• Tommy Hilfiger entered a men’s sportswear partnership with Kohl’s. 
• Seattle shoppers will soon get to test Amazon’s hand-scan payment tech at Whole Foods.
• Lululemon is starting an in-house resale program.

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COMMUNITY

On Wednesdays, we wear pink spotlight Retail Brew's readers. Want to be featured in an upcoming edition? Click here to introduce yourself.

Chain stores and YouTubers aren’t too different: Success depends on finding their best lighting. That’s where Alessa Aguayo, director of international and national accounts at Coronet LED, comes in—for the stores, at least. 

Tell us what you do in a sentence. I provide lighting design and lighting products for retailers nationwide, as well as for commercial office space, medtail, restaurants, and hotels.

Favorite project you’ve led: I worked on a new restaurant concept with a national chain. They gave me a mood board of their aesthetic; I got to pick all the light fixtures and designed some custom pieces.

What makes “good lighting,” anyway? It should emulate the store's brand while creating an inviting ambiance. Humans are like bugs: We are attracted to light, and a lower ambient light level with brighter lighting on the merchandise naturally draws our eyes to the highlighted areas. 

One emerging retail trend you’re excited about: I think the “medtail” space is interesting—boutique doctors and dental offices, but also cryotherapy, CBD, and other self-care spaces.

Favorite retail account to follow: I don’t use social media. [Ed. note: Impressive.]

Hands down, the best fast food joint is...Taco Bell is my guilty pleasure.

SWAPPING SKUS

The “house of brands” approach is picking up steam. Bed Bath & Beyond is using multiple in-house brands to revive the business, while a startup is gobbling up former Amazon third-party sellers.

• Bed Bath & Beyond’s CMO outlines the company’s strategy behind its slate of new in-house brands. (Modern Retail)
• The chairman of Boosted Commerce believes his company’s brand acquisition strategy could make it the modern-day Procter & Gamble. (Retail Dive) 

ICYMI

Catch up on the Retail Brew stories you may have missed.

• Ask the Experts: Retail Execs Weigh in on Omnichannel Staffing
• Nuggs Pulled off a Three-in-One Mass Retail Expansion
• JCPenney Turns to Private Label Home Goods in Turnaround Effort